


a monster fallen prey to time

by memoryboypog



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: All my homies hate c!Dream, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Clara (Dream SMP) - Freeform, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, I am not a Dream apologist, Mentioned Jschlatt (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Karl Jacobs, Mentioned Wilbur Soot, The Author Regrets Everything, The InBetween - Freeform, Time Loop, Time Travelling Karl Jacobs, italics abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:15:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29474583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memoryboypog/pseuds/memoryboypog
Summary: Nothing is wrong  (“Everything is wrong! You have to see that. Why can’t you see that Clay?”)He doesn’t care. (“You have to care. You can’t just not care. You’re my-”)Dream blinked the memory(?) away, bringing his attention back to his current situation, where he was being placed in Pandora's Vault (for the ??? time). He’s not going to go down without a fight.—-in which dream is taken to prison while struggling with hidden memories of an almost forgotten brother
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Darryl Noveschosch, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), No Romantic Relationship(s), Sam | Awesamdude & TommyInnit
Comments: 2
Kudos: 103





	a monster fallen prey to time

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [au prompts/ideas](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28632282) by Anonymous. 



> aaa this story is less time loopy than i wanted it to be but its fine also this is my first story so yeah
> 
> —-
> 
> I AM NOT A DREAM APOLOGIST I JUST SAW A PROMPT AND I RAN WITH IT
> 
> —-  
> so the writing thats crossed out is when he spoke to ranboo in a different timeline and the writing thats crossed out and underlined is a weird voice the green bitch has  
> —-  
> ranboo does not have memory issues in this lol

When he first started it was enjoyable, the rush of cruel and unrestrained glee that came with control. It felt dangerous, basking in the power as Tommy put his stuff in the hole without so much as a second thought, his number one enemy ~~( _He forgets that ages ago he thought of the boy as his little brother, laughing and bickering as they spar, Sapnap and George chasing each other on the prime path, Bad and Ant baking,_~~ ~~ _they were so_~~ ~~ _happy.)_~~ under his control, bright blue eyes that once held a fire full of passion that was so powerful it burned, now nothing more than a dull grey, mere embers, a shell of his former self. 

When the times that Sapnap George and Bad spend with him are few and far between, he thinks nothing of it, for there is nothing wrong, his plan is working, soon they can be a family again. It will pay off, he’s protecting them, they just don't see it yet. 

~~_(“People,” they said, stopping to take a breath, “aren’t your toys! You can’t just make them do what you want like a psychopath!”)_ ~~

Nothing is wrong.

Nothing is wrong when he catches Sapnap’s gaze, eyes that once held so much fondness for him, now full of hurt and mourning for his fallen friend, mourning for his brother in everything but blood, who was once so joyful and compassionate, now driven solely by power and control. 

~~(“ _What the hell happened to you?”, they said, the only sounds in the room being heavy panting from the two individuals, one louder than the other._~~

~~_There is no response.)_ ~~

Nothing is wrong when he sees Bad for the first time in months and he takes in his appearance, robes that at one point in time were scarlet red and charcoal black, but not at this point in time, as such the crimson on his robes now an ashy grey. He walks up to him, a kind facade, layers of crimson malice behind poorly hidden bloodstains. Dream knows danger when he sees it, yet he denies that anything is wrong. _~~(This is all your fault. He was so kind and you ruined him.)~~ _

Nothing is wrong when George can’t bear to be in the same room with him for more than five minutes. It doesn’t hurt. _~~(You are such a shitty liar. STOP LYING TO YOURSELF.)~~ _

Nothing is wrong. ~~_(“Everything is wrong! You have to see that. Why can’t you see that Clay?”)_~~

He doesn’t care. ~~(“ _You have to care. You can’t just not care. You’re my-”)_~~

Dream blinked the memory _(?)_ away, bringing his attention back to his current situation, where he was being placed in Pandora's Vault _~~( for the ??? time)~~_ . He’s not going to go down without a fight.

_(He learned to stop resisting, as this has happened to him across thousands upon thousands of timelines, too many to count, each time waking up disoriented and confused as to what happened, only to have his memories rushing back during imprisonment and coming to the crushing realization that this has happened so, so many times, each time deteriorating his resolve bit by bit, losing pieces of what little he had left of him._

_He's learned to focus on what he has left of him, not what he’s lost. He has memories of a rainy day, reading, a slap, crying, burning, hunter crest, and the feeling of a hand on his cheek. Rain, reading, slap, crying, crest, burning, hand, cheek. He remembers the days where he would sit in bed, comforting his younger brother, name lost to time,_ ~~_(Whose fault is that?)_~~ _while his parents screamed at each other in the living room, over things deemed as unimportant to the brothers._

_He doesn’t have many regrets,_ ~~_(He ignores the voice screaming at him that thats a lie, he can’t lie to himself, just as he's done so many times before.)_~~ _but his biggest regret would be not trying harder to get back to his brother after they escaped their old server, Hypixel.)_

_\---_

He shakes his head out of his stupor, where he thought about.. what was it he thought about? It doesn’t matter, shouldn’t matter, as this is extremely important, his people are going against him. They- they can't do that. ~~_(It was bound to happen eventually. You knew that.)_~~ Whatever it was he thought about, he's sure it wasn’t too important. ~~_(Open your eyes.)_~~

Sam levels him a glare, “Dream.” he greets through gritted teeth, voice hardened and cold, detached, visible tension in his shoulders.

“I suppose you are here to take me to kill me,” he spits out, taking a moment to glance at everybody who came to take kill him, each stiffening at his gaze, “but you see, that might be a problem, because i am not going down easy, and I don’t think a couple people could take me without a few,” he said smugly, smirking underneath his mask, “casualties.”

Dream got the distinct impression that Sam was opening his mouth underneath his ventilator mask, about to speak, when Tommy beat him to it, “You know, you might just be right, Big D.”

“Tommy-” Sam started, but was cut off again by Tommy, “Relax Big S, i’ll be fine, I got this.”, he reassured. “So, Dream, Big D, D money, you may be all powerful and shit, but above all else big man, you’re just one guy fuckass, and I don’t know if you’ve been paying much attention but,” he paused momentarily, spreading his arms out, as if presenting everybody, “there's a bit more than just a couple people, bitch.” 

_(“P-please Clay we need to go, like now!”, he whined, swallowing the lump in his throat, blinking back tears, Papa never liked it when he cried. “Please!”, he cried at his older brother, who was in a panic because of the state of his brother, who had blood on his elbow and knees, a large gash on his shoulder, and cheeks red and burned from his tears.”Alright!,” then softer “alright. let’s go.” he stated, allowed the younger to drag him into the forest)_

“So,” he said pointedly, digging a hole in the blackstone, “Put your armor in the hole.”

Dream surveyed the crowd, a few people standing out. There was George and Sapnap, standing there ready for battle, eyes cloudy with mild disgust and determination, prepared to take him on, Bad with his trident out and a guarded expression, and Ranboo who was standing there frightened above all, and for some reason he felt his chest tighten to see Ranboo looking at him with such a frightened expression. What is that about? He barely knows him, so why does it hurt so much? ~~_(You're forgetting something.)_~~ For once, he completely agreed with the voice.

_(“Oh my Prime what happened Bo?,” he questioned concern and panic bleeding out of his voice. The younger simply sniffled and shook his head, “Ma-mama ‘nd P-papa were in the kitchen ‘nd then a really scary guy came in and he- he,” the younger was practically bawling his eyes out at this point, just barely feeling the burning on his face, gasping for breath.)_

Dream growled under his breath, “Alright then, if that's how you want to be.”, he stated, taking off his armour and tossing them, alongside his weapons in the hole.

“You’ve caused me nothing but pain, now it's your turn.”, he stated smugly, smirking as he cut him down, 2 slashes to his chest with his axe.

Dream was slain by TommyInnit using [Axe of Peace]

_(“Shh shhh it’s okay Bo let’s breathe and you can tell me after ok?” the younger nodded, “in for 4- 4 out for 4 I remember Clay,” the older provided the best reassuring smile he could muster. Once his brother got his breathing under control, he asked again, “What happened Bo?”, the younger lifted his head up, having held it in between his knees while breathing, “the-the- the guy came in ‘nd I was scared because Mama ‘nd Papa saw him ‘nd got mad ‘nd they started yelling ‘nd then he hit Papa ‘nd C-clay I was so scared be-because I went to hide in the bathroom ‘nd- ‘nd when I came out of the-the- bathroom Mama ‘nd Papa were on the floor ‘nd there was red everywhere ‘nd the guy- he was gone ‘nd-” the older cut the brother off, concerned for his panicked state, “Ok Bo it’s ok, it’s gonna be okay.”_

Everyone stood off to the side, watching with gasps of surprise as his body went up in a cloud of smoke.

“Dream, everyone please,” he said, trying to bring attention back to him, “Dream, I am going to kill you till your dead, you have three- you have three lives.” he inhaled, clenching his fists so as to calm his nerves. “Tommy-this is my server- this is my SM-” Dream started, but was promptly cut off with a sword cutting his head clean off his body.

Dream was slain by TommyInnit using [Nightmare]

_(It had been 8 weeks since they left their home and they’ve just barely got by, eating mostly salmon and wild berries while in the forest. Sometimes the younger would wake up screaming, tortuous images of their parents lying cold on the kitchen floor, engrained into his mind, trying to shake them awake, opening their communicators and reading a death message, plain, simple, straight to the point. They called those the bad days. They didn’t speak about the bad days.)_

“Dream do you have any last words,” Tommy questioned, “Tommy, you don’t need to kill me, we were friends, Tommy,” he voiced. “Dream cut the bullshit, this is it-”

“WAIT- listen I can bring people back to life,” he stated.

“Stop lying, Dream”, Tommy snarled.

_(One day the younger strayed a few hundred blocks away from their camp, too far away from their path made up of snapdragon flowers and purple hyacinths, the young boy was looking in fascination at a strange baby zombie piglin on a chicken, he named it michael, he was too focused he didn’t pay attention to his surroundings, if he did, he would’ve noticed the middle aged man wearing clothes made from cheap leather and boots stained with cow poop approaching him, he would have recognized the specific kind of royal crest he wore signifying his secret unit in hybrid trading.)_

“W-wait! Wait! Just listen, let me explain!,” he pleaded, “J Schlatt gave me a book! If I die then death is permanent! If I die, then Wilbur is dead forever! You can exile me, just leave me alone, I'll be good, I'm the only one who knows how to bring people back to life!”, he explained, in hopes that he would believe him.

“You asshole I can’t believe you you bastard you son of a-”, he started, only to be cut off by Sam, “There's another way,” he suggested, “ we can put him in the prison, until we need to bring somebody back.”

“If he tries to escape, well take his last life.”

_(_ _The older awoke to the sound of a panicked screech that sounded far too distorted to be human. Who? Bo? Oh. Oh no._

_That day they lost a piece of themselves that they’ve been trying to cling onto since their parents passing, they lost their innocence.)_

_(The older lived in the woods for 2 years before deciding to head out to a village, as he was doing well hunting and using his new skills from being in the wilderness for so long but he needed some bamboo, at the village he met a group of village children who were playing tag, one of them saw him staring and introduced himself as Nick. He introduced him to his other friends, George and Bad. The day in the village started like every other, farming the wheat and shearing the sheep, until the calm was broken with a screech of “RAIDERS!” from one of the townsfolk. He, George, Nick, and Bad helped fight the pillager raid, but did not leave scratch free, George was left with impaired eyesight, Nick with a scar on his forehead, Bad had potion of harming burns on his arms, and Clay had a huge scar on his cheek, one that resembled the letter D. Weeks passed, and the villagers' gaze always traveled to their scars, eventually the friends grew tired of the stares, so they stole some stuff to fix it._

_For George, a pair of special goggles, formally known as glasses._

_For Nick, a white bandana with a fire symbol on it._

_For Bad, a black and red cloak._

_For_ _Clay_ _Dream, a white mask with a smiley face on it and a new name._

_121 weeks ago he lost his parents_

_113 weeks ago he lost the last strands of his innocence_

_1 week ago he became Dream.)_

“Alright, in the prison it is,” Tommy sighed and lowered his weapons, everyone else following suit. Sam walked over to place handcuffs on him, before grabbing him harshly at his hands and heading to the elevator when- “Wait. One last thing.”, Tommy said calmly. “Yes Tommy?”, he scoffed. “Take off your mask.”, he was about to protest when he felt hands taking off his mask for him. Dream struggled against Sams bond but it proved to be futile. Dream opened his eyes to everyone in the room staring at him. “What.” he snarled. This is why he didn’t show his face. 

“Clay?..” said a small voice, too quiet to tell who said it but not quiet enough for him not to pick up on it. “What did you just call me?”, he spat to no one in particular. He didn’t get it, he didn’t really get it until he looked around the members and his gaze landed on a certain enderman and- 

Oh. ~~_(Oh indeed.)_~~

\---

The memories came rushing back. The time loop, rain, reading, slap, crying, crest, burning, hand, cheek, snapdragon, hyacinth, path.

“Bo?” he whispered, feeling more vulnerable than he had in years. “Yeah, its me Clay.” he said, “H-how what happened to you?”, the boy simply sighed tiredly, “A lot of shit.”, he huffed out a laugh at that, though it came out more like a choked sob. “Who- I- WHAT the shit is happening?” Tommy interjected. 

“Dream is- was my brother.” 

“Oh.” “Yeah, oh. I thought i’d never see him again.” the boy rubbed at his eyes, trying to slow the steady stream of tears that had begun to race down his cheek, burning him as they fell.

“Wait-wait,” Dream interjected. “You said ‘was’ you said I ‘was’ your brother, but i'm right here?”

“You’re not Clay.” he exhaled shakily.

“What- What do- What do you mean?” he inhaled sharply.

“You- you’re not Clay,” he admitted, ”He.. died a long time ago. You’re not him, you’re Dream.” he stated tiredly. ~~_(He makes a good point.)_~~

“I- Im still your brother, doesn’t that count for something?”, he said, his wincing at how desperate his voice sounded.

At that, his brother let out a choked laugh, which delved into giggles and slowly became no more than tired sobs. “No- no I- no it doesn’t,” he huffed, “Clay wouldn’t do this. Clay wouldn’t manipulate people in a play for power. Clay wouldn’t start conflicts and crush the spirits of other people,” he grit his teeth and clenched his fists, forcing himself to take a deep breath. “In for 4 out for 4 right, _Dream_ ,” he spat bitterly.

Sighing, he stood up and made his way to the elevator, “Goodbye Dream, I hope you enjoy your stay in the prison.” He waved a goodbye, as quickly as he came back into Dream’s life, he was gone.

That night as Dream lay on the hot obsidian floors of his cell, as he looked up at his clock, he took his last breath, and passed on to the next plane, carrying nothing with him but his regrets.

\---

_Taking a deep breath, Dream opened his eyes. Everything was white, he was in a lovely castle. There was a certain tune being hummed, asking for him to follow it to the source. The tune led him through corridors and eventually brought him to a big white birch tree. There were two swings there, the slight wind coming from nowhere in particular making them swing, and as Dream sat down on a swing he took in more of his surroundings, the sunlight coming in from every direction despite there being no sun, the birds singing the tune, the white hyacinths on the grass that seem to mourn, mourning what? He did not know. He looks over to the side of the tree, and he finds a book. The book reads a simple message, repeated various times over and over: DONTSTRAYFROMTHEPATHDONTSTRAYFROMTHEPATHDONTSTRAYFROMTHEPATHDONTSTRAYFROMTHEPATHDONTSTRA-. He closed the book. How unusual. He follows a trail of wither roses and ends at a corridor, a door lies across the other end. Somehow he knows what to do. He feels a strange sense of deja vu. This place feels almost unnatural, yet comforting. A home away from home. He reaches for the door and twists the doorknob. He ceases to exist._

_Somewhere in a different part of the castle a woman named Clara sat observing a young traveler who goes by the name Karl Jacobs. Oh how she wishes she could help him more, but as there is reason for everything, she cannot._

_\---_

“Good morning Clay!” a young boy says, waking up his older brother for breakfast.

**Author's Note:**

> can you tell that i hate writing dialogue


End file.
